Wash water pickup for spiral concentrator



Jan. 25, 1955 1. B. HUMPHREYS WASH WATER PICKUP FOR SPIRAL CONCBN-TRATOR2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 14, 1952 INVENTOR. In B. Hone/laws BYATTORNEY 1955 1. B. HUMPHREYS WASH WATER PICKUP FOR SPIRAL CONCENTRATOR2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 14, 1952 JI'VVENTOR." [RA .B,Huumesrs A TTORFJE Y United States Patent WASH WATER, PICKUB' FOR SPIRALCONGENTRATOR Ira B. Humphreys,.Denver,'.. Colo assignon to. The Hum.-phreyslnvestment ompany,, Dnver,. Col0., a corporation of Colorado pp iion-J y 4,. 1 52, S r a No? 2 8,114

4. C aims. (QI- 299- 2111).

Thisinvention relates to, an oreconcentrator butmore particularly and;specifically.- to, a wash: Water pickup; for a helicalchutetypeofconcentrator such as. that disclosed; in my United StatesPatents;2.,4.3 1,559- and; 2,431,569; dated November 25, 19 457,, andhas'asa prim -y objectthe provision of-- a; wash W313i pickup; builtinto. and forming; a part of the; helical chute: to replace; the washwaterpickup arran em n s s o d; in. said; Pat

A further object of; the: inyention; is; the provision; of. a washwater: pickupfor a. concentrato Q the type reer hi h. s s mp onst ucion. nd: ighlyofi io en in operati n.

A- still furtherobject of the inyentio-n, is the: provision of a wash,water pickup for a. concentrator; of the char-. acter referred to in.which; the velocity and direction oi flowof theiwash water is.controlled to, give, to, the con: centra-tor a maximum efliciency.

Another and still further. object of, the invention is he p o si of a wsh;-w o PiQkDP. per ion; o w ich s u mati and. does not. ne d. manila oti hc or.- toht o as is he se oi he w sh Wate n skons n my r ferred o.Paten s,

O h je ts, ad anta es, mprov men n oo s ea u sv i ns u tion. o h nv nton w ll. annea -"r rom e l w dos t p ion. when; ead: n hoi isht oi the.ac omp ny n raw n s n will. be. understood. and nooog izod b ho ki ledhe art.

In. h d aw s;

F L s. a side view o a. helical. ohhto c nce trato em ody ng. e p sennnroyed' wash, wa e P okun.

Bi s a r nsver e. sectional. v ew hrou h. h e ical. chute; the. oot h,bein take h ou h one o h onoon ra't r rawff. holes.

F g... 3 is an. end le at on. v ew of. o ou o on of the: soo ion omnrsin h holisal. hu e.

I th p e e t apnan us' ho; ifi ohso n h p fic char tie or. he diif ro io n. t o o iso r fi' a ties, of e par c e ken. adv ntage of i e o asepar ion. It. i common. p c ic i art n nnation, when, the specific,gravities of{ different ores or pa ic e a e t e. s me, o ve y closely ma ign troa one. pec es. of. he P icl s. to p m a difioront itootiv izioisr v yt I i' h. h o seyeral way Qne'rn nnei; is to treat theparticles with a e ent. wh le. shot. .or ma n r is to m ra the par cle Wh r atments. o hi kind a Hifierentf t'iye specific. gravity. over theactualjspecific, gravity of the;

ore. or par icl s. the eof. is o t d- In view of the foregoing it; is tobe understood that where, hereinafter, either in the specification orclaims, Par i les. hav g d ffe ent p o fi g a ios ar r fer to. itincludes. particles which have, a natural" or inherent; like. or similarspecific gravity but one species thereof? is p e rea ed to. give. tohem. a. ditt h fi ct pe c ra i y.

T o on en rat r illustrated n. Fi of ho w n is a p ica e. h t. lustratedin my. ref e to Patents and as a reference to these patents will make anunderstanding. oi t e ope ation, o he. concentrator clear a detaileddescription of the operation of the concentrator in the presentapplication is; unnecessary. The referred totpatents contain both methodand, apparatus claims, and a general description of the method; o fconcentration pracdeed by the concentrator is sufficient to anunderstanding of the purpose and desirability of the provision of washwater to the main concentrating chute or trough.

Broadly the concentrator comprises a helical chute ice preferably madeup of a plurality of sections each; of wh ch is substantially identical:of? construction and are deslgnated as, an entirety by A, A1 A2, A3, A4,A5), A65. A 1, A8; ands A9. The number of sections used in. the,concentrator is dependent upon the. number of turns. necessary, toefiecta. concentration of the particular ore to, be; operated upon. Thehelical: chute making 12. ho. p ral turn. oncentrator is. suitably.supported in pp rting ame B1.

In; operation the material, that -is-, the mass. of: com.- rninutedparticles; containing. the; particles of ore. to be concen rat d. mixedn any su table r oonvoniont anner: wi h oi qoids. us a y wa er. and thisliquid with the particles of ore therein, conueyed from a hopper twhich. wate o other; iq idis. d livo ed y a p 1, t h ppe pe a d; of the.helical;- chute by a su h opumptifl h iquid car y n h Part io ravelsdown the mainr h comp s n ths h te he concen ti taks P ac part c s.- n;t e ravo s iqu d ti y n. cor ance with the pec fic srav hos and assume bas uofs o hood. ar d roo iohofra el po ion uch ha rart o ss: of ike p cc r y tis are in; ide d Zone xt ndi o sithd al x o the s ream T o e asioio h fl l he r a est; sue ne; d e o t st de ed.- by the sh ts o'dse.4.. w h. he romaihh his direct on owards. ho; out ride or h s ream;-hoihgi pro es ly decr as n pocifip em s.

he outer d .v of. he eam. o coarse that flow= c near t h ou er od o ip,5. tth hu oh Bat iclssoo sti o in oaohbt thss'o. oh int-i r a Ldi creferred to earlier issued patents.

The contour of the stream travel within and: down the chute issubstantially that shown by the; dotted line 10 from which it will beseen that the stream is quite deep at the point 11 and climbs wellup theouter; side of; the trough'whereas the stream at its inner lower edgefeathers out topractically no depth as indicated at 12,; Theconcentrates; collect in this shallow portion 1 2 ofi the stream. 'lj'hs zone or portion of; the stream is com paratively slow moving; and dueto the fact that it is shallow there is no great; amount of pressureexerted upon the particles in this portion ot'the'stream to move them ina direction downwardly thr ough; the spiral chute. Consequently, it hasbeen found in the majority of instances the deliyery of wash fluid orwater to this edge of the stream is-essential'to the movement of theconcen'; trates downwardly through the spiral for discharge through theconcentrate take-01f of draw-off; outlets 6;. Actually, the wash liquidor water also performs another function; which will be hereinafterdescribed. The delivery of' wash water or; liquid; to the inner edge ofthe main chute constitutes the present specific invention and will: bespecifically described hereinafter.

The wash wateror liquid for the chute travels in a trough E'which isdisposed at and beyond the inner edge 4 of the chute and extendsthroughout the length of: the chute. It has been found desirable to castthistrough integral with the main chute but it could ofi course beseparate y o m d an s ar l u r e e I his trough is below the inner; edge4' 'ofthe chute, that is, it lies in a plane below that ofthe inner edgeo'fthc desired at a plurality of points along its length but ordinarilythe liquid is supplied to the trough by a suitable conduit (not shown)discharging into the upper end of tlllle ttrough where it terminates atthe upper end of the c u e.

The purpose and desirability of using wash liquid is fully discussed inhereinbefore referred to patents. Broadly, this liquid will keep foreignand light subject matter washed off of the concentrates in the shallow,slow moving inner edge of the stream so that they will be clean whenwithdrawn from the take-offs. Also of importance is the fact that thewash liquid will assist in moving the hea v1er concentrates in the inneredge of the stream to their points of discharge. In the absence of washliquid, the movement of the concentrates would be quite slow becausethey are in the slowest moving zone or portion of the stream and also inthe very shallow portion thereof. The wash liquid will prevent any heavybuilding up of very slow or non-moving concentrates which might tend todisrupt the separation. Non-moving or extremely slow moving concentratesin the inner edge of the stream would tend to form bars or dams whichwould be undesirable.

The actual delivery of wash liquid from the wash liquid carrying chute 4is attained by the provision of a plu: ral1ty of sluiceways P which havetheir upstream ends 19 merging into the inner lower side 20 of thetrough and their downstream ends 21 merge into the inner edge of thechute 3. Each sluiceway is in reality a short troughlike conduitinterconnecting the trough E with the spiral chute 3. The number ofsluiceways provided in the length of the chute or in each individualsection making up the helical chute would be dependent upon the amountof wash liquid it is desired to convey to the main chute just as thenumber of draw-off holes is optional. The proper amount of liquiddelivery by a sluiceway would be predetermined. The downstream dischargeend 21 of a slu ceway preferably communicates with the chute at a pointabout opposite a draw-01f outlet 6. Flow of wash liquid from a sluicewaydirectly toward or into a drawoif 6 may be prevented by providingadjacent each drawoif an upwardly and longitudinally extending rib orwall G with the consequence that the wash liquid delivered by asluiceway is not for the purpose of moving concentrates into theimmediately adjacent take-01f but to move those concentrates in thestream edge below a take-off downwardly through the chute for dischargethrough the next adjacent take-off. These ribs or walls G which extendfrom a point above and partly around a draw-off outlet assure that thewash liquid is so directed as to remain for a considerable part of itstravel in or near the inner edge of the chute as there is a tendency forit to move toward and merge with the main downwardly moving stream inthe chute.

It has been found desirable to retard to some degree the speed of travelof the wash liquid in the chute and to tend to diffuse it and,accordingly, the inner edge of the chute at points just below the lowerend of the ribs or walls G are provided with a depression H which in thedrawings is shown as a circular hole the inner edge 22 of which ispreferably elevated. This precise and exact kind of wash liquid retarderand diffuser need not be followed as other constructions andarrangements could be devised for accomplishing the desired result. Inany event, some means of retarding and diffusing the wash liquid is adesirable feature.

It is to be noted that the downstream ends 21 of the sluicewaysterminate in the depressions H and that the discharge or outlet ends ofthese sluiceways are, as mentioned, in a plane slightly below the inneredges 22 of the depressions.

The number of sluiceways and their particular disposition as well as theinclinations thereof and their widths and the amount of wash liquiddelivered to the trough E and the velocity of it downwardly through saidtrough could be varied in accordance with the particular type ofmaterial to be concentrated with the result that there are variables,and, accordingly, the invention is to be limited only within the scopeof the hereinafter and following claims.

What I claim is:

1. In an apparatus for concentrating and separately collecting from acomminuted mass composed of particles having different specificgravities those particles having like specific gravity, a verticallydisposed helical shaped chute adapted to carry a stream of liquid havingtherein the material to be concentrated, draw-off outlets positioned inspaced relationship along the length of the bottom of the chute adjacentbut inward of the inner edge thereof for drawing off at spaced pointsmaterial from the inner edge of the stream, a trough disposed in a planebelow and extending along the length of the inner edge of the chute andadapted to carry a stream of wash liquid, said trough being normally outof communication with the chute, a rib extending upwardly from thebottom of the chute and extending longitudinally thereof adjacent but inspaced relation to the inner edge of the chute, the rib extending from apoint tip-stream from each draw-off outlet to and partly surrounding thedraw-off outlet at the edge thereof adjacent the inner edge of thestream, and a sluiceway extending inwardly and upwardly from the washliquid carrying trough through the inner edge of the chute to terminatetherein at a point approximately opposite each draw-off outlet for thedelivery of wash liquid to the inner edge of the chute.

2. A construction as defined in claim 1 wherein, the chute at a pointbeyond the delivery end of each sluiceway is provided with means tocause an eddying and to cause a reduction in the speed of travel of thewash liquid delivered by its associated sluiceway.

3. In an apparatus for concentrating and separately collecting from acomminuted mass composed of particles having different specificgravities those particles having like specific gravity, a verticallydisposed helical shaped chute adapted to carry a stream of liquid havingtherein the material to be concentrated, a wash liquid carrying troughdisposed in a plane below and extending along the length of the inneredge of the chute, the inner edge of the chute being upwardly turned andperiodically in its length being notched out, a sluiceway formedintegral with the chute and trough and having a reception end in thetrough and having a portion extending inwardly and upwardly through eachnotched portion of the chute and having a delivery end terminating inthe chute on the bottom thereof for delivering wash liquid to the inneredge of the chute, the bottom of the chute being periodically throughoutits length and adjacent its inner edge provided with draw-off outlets, arib extending upwardly from the bottom of the chute adjacent eachdraw-off outlet, and said rib extending longitudinally of the chuteadjacent but in spaced relation to the inner edge of the chute andhaving a portion disposed between the draw-off outlet and the deliveryend of an adjacent sluiceway.

4. In an apparatus for concentrating and separately collecting from acomminuted mass composed of particles having different specificgravities those particles having like specific gravity, a verticallydisposed helical shaped chute adapted to carry a stream of liquid havingtherein the material to be concentrated, a wash liquid carrying troughdisposed in a plane below and extending along the length of the inneredge of the chute, the inner edge of the chute being upwardly turned andperiodically in its length being notched out, a sluiceway formedintegral with the chute and trough and having a reception end in thetrough and having a portion extending inwardly and upwardly through eachnotched portion of the chute and having a delivery end terminating inthe chute on the bottom thereof for delivering wash liquid to the inneredge of the chute, the chute bottom adjacent the delivery end of eachsluiceway being provided with a draw-off outlet, a rib associated witheach draw-oif outlet and extending upwardly from the bottom of the chuteand having a portion disposed between the draw-01f outlet and thedelivery end of the adjacent sluiceway, and means 1n the chute adjacentthe delivery end of each sluiceway for causing a liquid delivered fromthe sluiceway to eddy and to retard the speed of travel of said liquid,and means comprising a cavity in the bottom of the trough.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSHumphreys Nov. 25, 1947

